Cursive / Eastern Youth - Eight Teeth to Eat You

I have been a fan of Cursive for a while now and consider their last release, the Burst and Bloom EP, to be one of the greatest releases of the year. With that said, it will come as no surprise that I find Eight Teeth To Eat You amazing, and can't wait for the band to release a new full length in 2003. However, the inclusion of the Japanese band, Eastern Youth, on this record completely threw me off. Surprisingly though, in a good way. Now if only I could understand what the hell he is saying. With the previously mentioned Burst and Bloom EP, Cursive made an addition to their line-up in the form of cellist Gretta Cohn. It blows me away how much her sometimes subtle, sometimes over the top string additions add to the Cursive sound. The opening track "Excerpts..." is a prime example of this with Gretta's edgy arrangements leading the band into a musical tizzy. Even when she just plays along during a chorus or even during a guitar solo, her presence adds so much to the mix. Of course the rest of the band is dead on too, with great lyrics and soaring vocals from Mr. Tim Kasher, and the always great rhythm section. I couldn't ask for anything better from the Omaha boys. I had never heard of Eastern Youth until I laid my eyes on this split EP and thus had no idea they were Japanese. You can imagine my shock when track 5 rolled around and Yoshino's voice kicked in. Waaaa? But yet I found myself enjoying it. Lyrics are very important to me, and not so much what they say sometimes, but just that I can understand them and sing-a-long. Eastern Youth manages to write such good songs, that you are willing to overlook the language barrier and try and sing-a-long anyway. I mean you could be saying "I am a tool, and I suck", but who cares, because it sounds good in Japanese and is fun! The songs themselves are also great, and made we want to go dig up more from the band. Which is what a good spit CD should do. To me, the purpose of a Split EP is to introduce a band to the fans of another band or give you songs from two great bands on one CD. I for one would not have bought this CD if it had not been a Cursive CD. However, now I am an Eastern Youth fan and have gone back into their back catalog, and I am sure there are some people who bought the EP because they liked Eastern Youth, and are now Cursive fans. Mission accomplished. [www.betterlookingrecords.com]